Now that the HF is over, talks of what will happen next HF are popping up, and SMTs are at the top of the discussion. SMTs + RC delegation, a true lvl up for Hive.
With the talk of SMTs, comes the debate on layer 1 vs layer 2. Should SMTs be on layer 1? There is actually support for both by many people, including me.
I like the idea of both, if possible. The idea would be layer 1 is for SMT account balances, and layer 2 is for everything else. We did similar with Hive token itself, lots of features that were on layer 1 were moved to hivemind to improve node performance. The idea is to have a plane that works, and remove any unnecessary weight slowing the plane down, that's where layer 2 comes in. The same idea with Bitcoin, they don't want to spam the chain with large blocks thus moving "micro" transactions to second layers.
The main thing that needs absolute protection is account balances, things like voting can be the second layer.
As you know there is a group of Hiver working to decentralize Hive Engine (https://discord.gg/GdHGk7 join the convo) and the goal is to have a decentralized side chain capable of smart contracts. With a decentralized sidechain you can have IBC (inner blockchain communication) and what happened with LEO would be avoided if we had a decentralized governance layer protecting transactions. The demand for these products is here, and I believe if we can deliver we will start to see the blossoming of many different types of communities. Combine this with a decentralized storage system powered by a hive native token, this will make things like video to NFT storage completely decentralized, but also helps the Hive ecosystem by keeping it all "in house." It would be easier to build the storage system on another chain, but it is my belief it would not be as robust. Thus, creating it on hive, building the pipes/plumbing necessary is long term thinking and I think the short term pains will lead to long term gains.
Anyway, what are your thoughts on SMTs? or "HMTs"? :) Either way, let me know any ideas you may have for them, and how pumped are you to finally have SMTs on Hive?!